Plenty of softball talent to go around in St. Chuck

We've been used to seeing a glut of softball talent on the diamond at St. Charles North, year after year.

This year, it looks like the North Stars have plenty of crosstown competition.

The Fighting Saints have been playing some great ball this season. Look no further back than Friday's 14-2 beatdown against a very good Lake Park team to see what the Saints are capable of doing.

East looks like it has plenty of pitching and plenty of hitting. As long as the defense does its part, the Saints are going to keep winning at a healthy clip.

What Sly likes about East's lineup is the balance. Up and down, there aren't easy outs, which means there aren't easy innings for opposing pitchers.

Where'd this Latoria girl come from? She's tearing it up.

Just the same, the Saints ought to be aware it ain't going to be easy to wrestle Tri-Cities softball supremacy away from St. Charles North.

The North Stars might be seniorless (how'd that happen??) but they have enough talent not to have to wait til next year to do big things.

Sabrina Rabin has been dynamite offensively and pretty darn good on the rubber, too. In an ideal world, Rabin would probably anchor North's outfield in center, but short of a prototypical ace, the Stars need Rabin to back up her offensive game with solid work in the circle, to boot.

She's capable of doing that, but North is probably going to have to outslug people on a semiregular basis to do big things in the regular season and beyond. They might just do that because Rabin has plenty of backup in one of the area's most potent lineups.